Registration is now open for the Spring Eat Clean, Live Clean Challenge! The challenge will run from March 21st- May 1st.What? A challenge designed to support and encourage you to get healthy! Contestants will log points based on eating by the rules (no gluten, processed food, or refined sugars), sleeping at least 7 hours a night, exercising (walking counts!), and stretching. Not only will the point leader at the end of the challenge win a cash prize, but you’ll also be eligible to win smaller prizes along the way! This challenge will be the first to try out two weeks of the new Eat Clean, Live Clean meal plan. You make enough decisions every day, outsource your meal planning to us! The deadline to register is March 20th, but don’t wait until the last minute! Where? You can participate from anywhere- it’s all virtual! How much? The fee to participate is $40. Who’s ready to invest in their health? To register for the challenge click here. Questions? Click here to find out more and get answers to some commonly asked questions! What to see what other people are saying about their experience? Check out the testimonials.

If I had to describe Celeste in one word, it would be “involved”. She is involved with her family and the people she cares about, involved with her business, and, lucky for us, involved with her gym. Whether it’s grilling meat for our next get together or spending an afternoon building a pull-up rig, both her and her husband Dennis are always willing to help. The Haar’s are part of the reason we have such an incredible community of people at CrossFit Roux, and Bradley and I are so appreciative of everything they do to support Roux. They even open their house every Sunday to host a supper club! Celeste blows me away with her strength. I remember the day she surprised herself when she pulled a 155 lb deadlift off the ground! She comes in day after day and does her best with a smile on her face! Last year she had a serious health scare, and she credits the lifestyle changes she made with her diet and exercise for saving her life. We’re so grateful that Celeste is apart of our gym! Tell us about yourself.I’m an aquarius. I love babies and I hate long walks on the beach… Just kidding except about the beach. I HATE SAND. I just made 40. I am a wife, mom of 3 (2 teens and a toddler), a business owner, and an avid CrossFitter! How long have you been a member of CrossFit Roux and why did you start? My husband and I have been members since November 2014. Back in September 2014 my dad had a really bad health event and I made a deal with God. My deal was that I would get serious about my health and get healthy if He just gave my dad ONE MORE CHANCE to try to get it right. Coach Missy is part of our family and I started talking to her about my concerns and she started The Butcher Shop, where a bunch of us worked out in her driveway twice a week. That’s where my love for Crossfit started. My first box jump sealed it for me. I failed miserably and then succeeded. When Missy became a coach at Roux we all transitioned over thanks to Bradley reaching out to us. It was the best decision we ever made. What is the biggest change in your body, mindset, and/or life that you’ve noticed since starting CrossFit?There have been so many. First of all I think has been my confidence. I am up for so many more challenges in my life ever since. My weekends used to be full of “Shouldas” – We shoulda done something this weekend but we wasted it. Now it’s always on the go and usually I am trying to FIND downtime. My body is so strong and I’ve shed tons of inches! I’ve also made soo many incredible friends and rekindled and strengthened old friendships. My “Crossfit friends”, as my family refers to them, are some of my closest friends. Without them we wouldn’t have Sunday Supper Club. What is the biggest take-away that you learned from doing the Challenges?Being conscious of your food to fuel your body is important – every single day. Trash in, trash out. I have learned SOO much about nutrition, how it works for MY body and what doesn’t work. I also now am a Dave Asprey stalker and bulletproof coffee drinker. I love that stuff.What are 3 specific fitness goals that you have for the coming year?This is really hard for me. On October 1, 2015 I had a very normal day. I went to the 5:30 am class at Roux, I worked and had my usual day. I was not feeling great, but thought nothing of it. I went to bed like usual around 9. At about 11:30 I woke up feeling like I had to cough pretty badly. I felt like I was wheezing and my chest was tight. I thought maybe I was catching a cold. I shrugged it off and tried to go back to sleep. For the next two hours, I was up and down and my breathing was getting worse and worse. I finally couldn’t lay down AT ALL. I couldn’t seem to catch my breath- I was drowning. I got dressed and woke up my husband. He thought I was having a panic attack but it was getting worse. We made a trip to the emergency room where they immediately started to try to get my sky high blood pressure under control. I had JUST been able to eliminate blood pressure meds from my life about 30 days before, working with my doctor, of course. So I was being brushed off by the doctors as not taking my meds, but it was worse. Much worse. I went to ICU, and then to a regular room where I finally met a cardiologist. Dr. Mailander sat in my room and in front of my husband and kids told me that I was in congestive heart failure from a virus. Believe it or not, my first question to her was if I was going to be able to CrossFit again! Just the thought of having to give up something that was such a part of my identity was crushing, but the reality is that I have had big changes. I take a LOT of medication. I had to wear a defibrillator 24/7 for a couple of months. My heart function has had some improvement but I’m still sick. Sometimes I forget and then my body reminds me. In December I was able to start working Roux back into my life a couple of days a week with my doctor’s clearance. Now I am back 4-5 days a week. I religiously wear my Fitbit Charge HR that monitors my heart rate to keep it under 130, where my doctor still wants me. I’m not as strong as I used to be. Some movements are way too much for me, I row slow, I am up to running 100m at a light jog, and I have to stop some WODs and wait for my heart to slow down a little and sometimes I have to stop altogether. For a type A personality like me, this has been a life changing experience. So this year I would like to just keep moving and do what I can and to push that limit but learn to LISTEN to myself. What is your favorite Roux memory?The Open last year – whatever WOD had push presses. I didn’t think I could keep going and my lovely husband was “yelling” at me to pick it up over and over! I cracked my chin with the bar on like the second rep and bit my tongue. I just wanted to drop it and cry. But he just kept yelling so I did, over and over and over. I actually wound up beating HIS score that workout. This ties with Mardi Gras with the Roux Krewe – Schneller style. You have changed Mardi Gras for my family forever and we are forever grateful. What is your favorite cheat meal?A REALLY good meal at a fabulous restaurant. I want it to REALLY be worth it. What is your favorite and least favorite CrossFit movement/lift?Favorite – back squat because I can go pretty heavy. Least Favorite – Everyone’s least favorite – SNATCH! It’s like unnatural.Tell us something that only people who know you really well know about you.I’m pretty much an open book. If you ask I’ll tell you. I do have a REALLY bad temper, though. What do you think is the biggest myth about CrossFit that non-CrossFitters believe?That you have to be “in shape” to do it. Guess what, FAT IS A SHAPE, a messy, blobby one. CrossFit is for everyone. Anything else you’d like to add?CrossFit has saved my life. I know, dramatic, right? Not just the workouts, but the challenges and the education about food in general, and the friendships I have. It helped me make my heart healthy so that the VIRUS that attacked my heart and caused my heart failure didn’t kill me. I had an angiogram – my arteries are “crystal clear” – that’s what the doctor said. Nothing. Zip. Nada. It has also strengthened my marriage. My favorite workout partner is my husband, as long as I don’t have to BE his partner. We are stronger than ever, and after almost 22 years that’s a lot (and he’s SOO HOT!). Our date nights often include a WOD and maybe a drink at River Shack. CrossFit Roux is my Church. I schedule my time there. I schedule my life AROUND it. I don’t work if I’m not working out. Thank you, Bradley and Emily for what you created. I’m crying again.

It’s that time of year again—time for the CrossFit Open! In less than a week, Dave Castro, who I lovingly refer to as the Head Gamemaker, will be announcing 16.1, the first of five tests of strength and endurance in which CrossFitters around the world will be competing. The Open is the launch of the journey to crown the fittest on earth at the annual CrossFit Games. Are you on the fence about signing up? Just do it already! I promise you won’t regret it, and here’s why:

You should compete even if you don’t have a shot at advancing

Competing doesn’t have to be about winning! It should be about pushing yourself to be better than you were. Have you ever trained for a 10K or a half marathon? I’m willing to bet most of you didn’t expect to win. Think about your daily time at the gym like conditioning yourself to run, and the Open is like the day of the race! Since competition tends to bring a rush of adrenaline, I’ll be willing to bet you’ll surprise yourself by what you can accomplish!

It gives you a chance to measure yourself against the rest of the world

This can be humbling if you’re typically the person who scores the most reps or lifts the most weight at your box, or this can be a huge boost of confidence! We have a masters athlete at our gym who does WODs every day with a bunch of people younger and stronger than her. She’s used to coming in last, so imagine her surprise when she competed in the Open and scored second in the state for her age group! On the flip side, have you ever wondered how you stack up against your favorite athletes? Well, competing in the CrossFit Open gives you a chance to see how you compare to the Rich Fronings and Annie Thorisdottirs of the world! I remember during 14.5 (which was a LONG combination of thrusters and over the bar burpees with no time limit), my judge yelled out in the middle of the workout, “This is where Rich Froning finished!” I was about a third of the way into my reps! That sure was a reality check!

“I got my first ____ during the open!”

Are you the type of person who “can’t do” double unders so you just scale to singles during every WOD? My friend Nanci was that person until she competed in The Open. She had been CrossFitting for 5 months and had just mastered single jumps, let alone attempting double unders. When she discovered the first movement of 14.1 just happened to be double unders, she broke down. I’m sure it wasn’t a good feeling to put yourself out there for it to begin with a sense of failure. Her goal was to try. Her goal was to get one. She spent the first minute of the workout whipping her arm with failed attempts. Each time the rope made contact with her skin was another disappointment. Her judge told her to calm down, catch her breath and try again. Nanci ended up completing 53 double unders before time was called. She not only achieved her goal, she crushed it! When 15.3 was announced last year, CrossFitters around the world were outraged because of the 7 muscle ups right out of the gate! If you couldn’t do muscle ups, you either had to spend the time attempting them and risk scoring zero for the workout, or you had to drop down to the scaled division. A lot of people thought it was unfair, but my social media accounts were filled with countless videos of people getting their first muscle up during that workout. There’s just something about competing that brings out the best in people!

Be a part of the community!

I’ll say it before and I’ll say it again– the biggest thing that sets CrossFit apart from other fitness experiences is the sense of community. You’ll get out of it what you put into it, so why not go all in? Some of the greatest moments I’ve witnessed at our gym have been during the Open. During 15.5 last year, we had a teen competitor almost give up. His mom could see the look of defeat on his face… he wanted to quit! So, she picked up the barbell directly in front of her son and she talked him through completing the workout, doing two thrusters at a time with him until he finished. When she dropped her bar and pulled her son in for a hug, the whole gym was in tears as the emotions of the experience exploded to the surface. He had done it when he knew he couldn’t just moments before! All of us watching could relate to that feeling. We all knew what it was like to want to put the barbell down and quit, but it’s the people around us that keep us going. It’s the person shouting “You’ve got this” or “One more rep.” It’s the person beating you by 5 reps that you’re trying to catch.It’s the person who gets up after they’ve completed the WOD and runs along side you so you’re not working to finish alone.This community is what makes us different. It’s what makes us special. Be a part of it!

Happy Valentine’s Day! Bradley and I have been together over ten years, and Valentine’s Day is a holiday that we have learned that it’s best not to celebrate. Every time we try to do something special, it ends in disaster! There was the year he ordered sushi to-go and brought me to the levee for an evening picnic. Romantic, right? Well, the view for the spot he picked out ended up being a construction site, and the sushi he ordered contained cucumber which is Bradley’s most detested food. He threw up right on the levee. Ever since that day, he writes in big letters on top of any sushi order “NO CUCUMBER– HIGHLY ALLERGIC!” There was the year that he ordered flowers to be delivered, and the flowers never showed up. The bouquet arrived a day late and it was obviously an afterthought made with any left-over flowers the florist could scrounge together to please an unsatisfied customer. My poor boyfriend spent Valentine’s Day arguing with the local flower shop’s customer service, and I think he’s only had one bouquet delivered to me since! Then there was the year that we were TRYING to play it low key. I was working late, and I came home to my darling husband hard at work cooking me a steak dinner. He pulled the roasted vegetables out of the oven and I noticed that he decided to line the baking sheet with wax paper. I smiled at him at explained the difference between wax paper and parchment paper, and we decided to order pizza instead. These days, we don’t even give each other cards for Valentine’s Day… they’d probably spontaneously combust and burn our house down! Brennan has had a fascination with trucks lately. His favorites are the mail truck and the garbage truck. One morning, he woke up and started yelling from his crib, “I HEAR THE GARBAGE TRUCK!!” Bradley sprinted past me, flew open the door to Brennan’s room, picked him up, and hurried outside so Brennan could get a glimpse of the garbage truck passing by. It was even sweeter because Bradley was in his underwear and it was about 35 degrees outside. These are the moments that fill my heart with love…not chocolates, or flowers, or cards with pink hearts. I saw a toy garbage truck that reminded me of my boys, so I picked it up and gave it to Brennan this morning. I never thought a garbage truck could be a symbol of love, but it is in our house! Cooking for my family is one way I show them I love them. I recently quit a side job that required me to work every Sunday morning partly because it meant that I wouldn’t be able to make banana pancakes for my boys. Banana pancakes trump making some extra spending money! This recipe is easy, delicious, and it’s a great way to use ripe bananas. Make them for someone you love! Bonus points if you can make them with a toddler on your hip!

Mash bananas with a fork into a large mixing bowl. Stir in eggs, almond flour, and cinnamon. The mixture should be a little lumpy.

Melt a tablespoon of butter on an electric skillet heated to 300 degrees. Ladle about 1/2 cup of pancake batter onto the hot skillet and cook without moving it for about 2 minutes. Place 3 frozen blueberries on each pancake 1/2 way through cooking the first side. Flip the pancake and cook for an additional minute.

These pancakes don't bubble up like pancakes made with a flour batter. Knowing when to flip them is a bit of an art. My best advice is to time it, and notice when the sheen of the cooking pancakes change from glistening to a dull shine. When you go to flip them, commit! Quickly slide the spatula under the pancake and flip.

I've topped these pancakes with everything from apples cooked in cinnamon and butter to frozen berries reduced with a little lemon juice. Left over pancakes make great "bread" for nut butter sandwiches too!

Notes

If you don't have an electric skillet, my advice is to get one! This recipe doesn't work as well if you're cooking on a pan on the stove because the heat doesn't get distributed evenly.

If you want to make a smaller batch, just use the same number of bananas and eggs and use 1/4 cup of almond flour for each banana. For example, if you have 4 bananas, use 4 eggs and 1 cup of almond flour.

It’s amazing what opportunities life brings if you’re open to new experiences. I tried yoga for the first time this weekend at a yoga and brunch event hosted by Lululemon. The event was a pre-celebration for the opening of their new store later this month. My husband has been recognized this year as a Lululemon Ambassador which is an awesome gig full of fun perks. Sometimes I get to tag along with him and hang out with the incredible community of people that are associated with this company. For anyone who doesn’t know, Lululemon is a fitness apparel brand, but it’s really so much more than that. Their clothes are life changing, but I’m discovering that the people who work for the company do so much to inspire others to live a life that their clothes were made for– an active, fulfilling, and quality life. Normally I would say I don’t do yoga because I’m not flexible, but I realized that sounds just as silly as someone saying they don’t do CrossFit because they’re not strong or they’re not in shape. I don’t judge someone who walks into my gym who can’t do an air squat with perfect form, so why should I be nervous about people in the class judging me for not being able to touch my toes? If I don’t try, I don’t grow– so why not? We gathered outside on a Sunday morning at Maison Lafitte, a historic home built in the 1800’s that has been converted into an event venue. The space was gorgeously set under oak trees dripping Spanish moss from their branches. It was a morning, amid such beauty and positive energy, that I couldn’t help but feel grateful. The class was taught by another ambassador, Brigitte, who teaches yoga at Pilates and Yoga Loft. I thought what I was getting was an hour long yoga instruction, but I came away feeling as if I received a lesson in life. Brigitte is an incredible teacher. She began the class sitting on her matt with her legs crossed, and she said she wanted to introduce us to an idea. The idea being that we hold every age we ever were inside of us now, and that it’s important to give our younger selves compassion for things we have done that didn’t serve our best self. She told us to breathe in everything that we wanted in life– empathy, inspiration, forgiveness– and breathe out anything we wanted to let go– regret, resentfulness, or feelings that we’re not enough. When a pose became hard to hold, she told us to breathe into it, allow ourselves to feel the discomfort, and know that the feeling wouldn’t last forever. What a lovely metaphor for life! I appreciated that when she could tell that people (probably me) were taking things too seriously and judging themselves for not being “good enough” or “flexible enough”, she reminded us to smile and to remember that we’re alive. Yoga isn’t about being “good”, it’s about experiencing and centering. It’s about feeling something in yourself that you didn’t know was there. Brigitte came by to each of us after the class to rub essential oil on our foreheads that smelled like spicy citrus. I later asked her what scent it was, and she said “It’s called Peace”. I’m not sure if it was Brigitte’s words, the beautiful setting, the awesome playlist, the yoga poses, or the oil… but I definitely felt at peace. We warmed up with some coffee and delicious food inside. It couldn’t have been more perfect! I mean, is there anything better than raw oysters and champagne? I honestly almost didn’t share this on the blog. I recently purchased a new, fancy camera and I’m frustrated because when I try to apply what I’m reading in books to the camera, it doesn’t give me the results that I want. I was disappointed because I desperately wanted to share this beautiful experience through beautiful photographs, but I’m trying to implement what I learned in the yoga class to my life. I may not be the photographer I want to be… yet, but I am where I am now, and that’s enough. I’m not going to let it hold me back from sharing a meaningful experience. Luckily, there happened to be a professional photographer at the event who I connected with. I offered to help her with her photography shoots in exchange for teaching me a few tricks, and I couldn’t be more excited about it. So, friends, here are my photos that don’t come close to conveying how delightful everything was. I can’t wait to get better at capturing beauty on film! Thank you, Lululemon, for allowing me to be apart of such a lovely morning, and thank you for the new yoga mat! I think I will be getting some use out of it! What is something you’ve always wanted to try, but haven’t because you’re afraid you won’t be “good enough”? What’s the worst that can happen? You’ll grow either way!